Day By Day Dates

June 1 Thursday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote from Cleveland, Ohio to Sam.

June 3 Saturday – Sam wrote from Hartford to Mary Mason Fairbanks that he had decided to “remain away from the Centennial [in Philadelphia] altogether, for an interruption of my work is disastrous to it.”

June 4 Sunday – Information Wanted and Other Sketches by Mark Twain was published by George Routledge and Sons, London during the year. [Johnson 41-2]. Note: He gives June 4, 1876 as the earliest presentation copy found.

June 7 Wednesday – Eugene Holby wrote from Springfield to invite Sam to lecture there [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “NO”

June 8 Thursday – Clara Clemens’ second birthday.

June 9 Friday – Chatto & Windus, London issued the English edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a full six months ahead of the U.S. release [MTPO Notes with Nov. 2, 1876 to Conway].

Sam wrote a short note “To Whom It May Concern” introducing his mother, Jane Clemens, and his sister Pamela Moffett, who would be traveling [MTLE 1: 67].

June 10 Saturday – Sam must have heard from John RoBards, the boyhood friend he’d contracted to move his brother and father’s remains to the newer cemetery. He wrote from Hartford to RoBards, thanking him and asking to send any left over money to his mother in Fredonia, New York [MTLE 1: 68].

Duckett gives this as the date the English version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was ready [106].

June 13 Tuesday – In Cambridge, Mass., Howells wrote a postcard to Sam. Howells was going to Philadelphia on July 3, so he couldn’t attend the Congress of Authors there on July 1. Did Sam get the long letter he’d written that week? “We go into the country this week: Shirley Village, Mass.” [MTHL 1:141].

June 14 Wednesday – Sam wrote from Hartford to “Miss Harriet” responding to an autograph request. Even in a knock-off line, Sam could be hilariously brilliant:

“I am a long time answering your letter, my dear Miss Harriet, but then you must remember that it is an equally long time since I received it—so that makes us even, & nobody to blame on either side” [MTLE 1: 69].

June, before the 15th – Sam wrote from Hartford to James Hammond Trumbull, enclosing Frank Etting’s reply to Sam’s questions about the Centennial event in Philadelphia. Etting had urged Sam and Trumbull to come; that there would be 150 authors and that not every one could read every piece but many would read part. Trumbull had provided the multilingual chapter epigraphs for The Gilded Age.

June 16 Friday – George Bentley wrote from London, England

Dear Sir / I enclose a cheque … with many thanks.

      Your article came very late, & only by displacing one, & making a slight curtailment of the commencement could I get it in time. You will therefore forgive this curtailment It is a quaint article & I shall hope to hear from you again, especially when gd fun runs riot with you.

June 17 Saturday – Moncure Conway’s review of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ran in the London Examiner:

June 18 Sunday – Frank M. Etting wrote from Philadelphia to Sam.

Dear Sir / I have been so overwhelmed by the details of our celebration of 7th June & of 2d July as to be unable to attend to the duty of correspondence at all— You must therefore make due allowance for my delay in replying to your favor of 8th inst—

June 20 Tuesday – Sam wrote to James Hammond Trumbull on Etting’s June 18 letter: “I think I’ll go, Trumbull, & I hope you will stick to your intention of going, too” [MTPO].

June 21 Wednesday – Frank Soulé wrote from San Francisco to ask Clemens’ help in publishing his poem in 5 cantos, nearly 4,000 lines; he complained of working at the Alta where he was just a “machine not well oiled” and being unable to make a living after 17 years in SF [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Frank Soule Poet”. See Sept. 3, 1880 to Howells for more on Soulé.

June 22 Thursday – Sam and Livy wrote from Elmira to John Brown in Scotland. Sam made efforts to cheer Brown up, to urge him to travel and visit, and to bring others with him. Livy wrote hope for Brown’s health to improve and gave news of her children.

June 24 Saturday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Elisha Bliss. He was ready for the proofs to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but would be “better ready a week or ten days hence.” Sam suggested that American Publishing Co. could show better profits if it tried to do less, print fewer books (meaning more of his as well):

June 26 Monday – The Cincinnati Commercial printed Moncure Conway’s “London Letter,” which contained several quotations, extracts and bits of plot summary for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It also contained the entire fence-painting scene. From this publication many other newspapers picked up the article. Sam liked this method of publicity, of giving the public teasers before the book was issued [MTPO, notes on Sam’s July 24 to Conway].

June 28 Wednesday – Orion Clemens wrote more plans about buying the newspaper; he proposed going partnership with one Reese [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Proposition to buy the ‘Constitution’ ”

June 29 Thursday – The Clemens family arrived at Quarry Farm [The Twainian, Nov-Dec. 1956 p3, June 2, 1911 letter from Susan Crane to Paine].

June 30 Friday – Sam left Elmira and traveled to Philadelphia for the Centennial event, Congress of Authors.

July 1 Saturday – Sam gave a reading of his sketch “Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia” at the Congress of Authors, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Schmidt; Etting’s letter of June 18 forwarded by Sam to Trumbull]. Sam was impressed by the West Point Cadets who also participated in the Centennial Exhibition [MTNJ 2: 126n24]. Lorch says Sam received $300 for a fifteen minute reading given in the “midst of a concert” [153].

July 2 Sunday – In a letter to Mary Mason Fairbanks on Sept. 14, Sam wrote that he “staid nearly a whole day” in Philadelphia, which means he traveled back to Elmira through the night, arriving early in the morning of July 2 [MTLE 1: 79, 110].

July 3 Monday – Charles E. Perkins wrote to Sam: “Yours of the 1st inst is recd with check for taxes. I enclose tax bill receipted—also check for my half yearly charge of $150…The check for coupons for Mrs Clemens a/c is $404.25 and is deposited…” [MTP]. Note: Sam wrote on the env. “Tax receipt for July ’76 / Recpt for Perkins to July ‘76”

July 4 Tuesday – Sam wrote from Elmira to Moncure Conway, worried that the book and newspaper notice Conway had sent were lost. Communication with Bliss had become difficult at this point, with Sam having to ask Conway if the pictures from Bliss had arrived. They were needed for the English publication of TS. “I can’t find out from him,” Sam complained.